1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an image forming apparatus and its controller, and more particularly, to (i) an image forming apparatus that forms one or more sets of images while saving data for one set of images in memory and that forms one or more sets of images using the stored image data, and (ii) a controller that is used in said image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various technologies have conventionally been added to image forming apparatuses to enable the user to efficiently print or make copies of images and make it easy for the user to manage the printed images.
Using the technology disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application HEI 5-122477, the image data for which printing has been completed is saved in an image memory, and this image data is read and printing is performed once again through a prescribed operation. This technology pertains to a function to (i) record and save image data for an image for which printing has been completed and (ii) perform printing once again by reading this image data. (In the present specification, this function and a mode using this function are hereinafter termed the memory recall function and the memory recall mode, respectively).
Separate from the technology introduced above, an image forming apparatus having a function to allocate a management number to each set of copies when a set of images is printed in one print job is also known. (In the present specification, this function and a mode using this function are hereinafter termed the serial number printing function and the serial number printing mode, respectively.) Using this serial number printing function, the user can easily determine the number of sets of images printed.
However, there are situations in which the user wishes to allocate, while using the memory recall function, a number to a set of copies that is sequential to the last number that was allocated to the prior set of printed images previously printed. An image forming apparatus having the memory recall function and the serial number printing function is already known. However, in the conventional image forming apparatus having these functions, the user must manually input a management number that is sequential to the last management number of the previous job so that the input management number will be the starting control number for the current job, after confirming the number of sets of images that were previously printed with control numbers.
This type of manual operation is inconvenient for the user, and moreover, when manual inputting is performed, there is a possibility that an image having the same management number may be printed due to mistaken operation by the user, and accurate management may not be achieved.